This Just In : Mahjong Will Keep You From Going Postal

The folks from the World Series of Mahjong sent us this lovely piece of self-helpvertising.

Although the Olympics has already come to an end, sports is still a hot topic among Hong Kong people. World Mahjong Limited, founder of the “World Series of Mahjong” tournament, has recently conducted a survey in Hong Kong to gauge public views on “Mahjong and Sports”. The survey was conducted during August 4th to 16th 2008 in Hong Kong by means of random phone calls and brief interviews in the streets. There were six hundred people with ages over 18 responded to the survey.

Survey results show that 55% of the respondents are mahjong players, and among them 55% are male. It implies that more than 50% of Hong Kong people know how to play mahjong, and mahjong players are mainly male. As for the similarities of mahjong and sports, more than 30% of the respondents express that both could help to alleviate their pressure and occupy their leisure time (37%), while some respondents regard mahjong as both a physical and mental practice (31.67%). Since there are 53.33% of the respondents belong to the age group of 25 to 45 years old, it indicates that most of the pressured working class in Hong Kong like to play mahjong for relaxation and maintaining relationships with family and friends.

In addition, the survey also finds that there are more young mahjong players between the ages of 18 and 25 years old (23.33%) than senior players aged above 56 years old (10%). Furthermore, 20.33% of the respondents believe that both mahjong and sports could help to enhance peer relationship, while only 11% of the respondents regard both of them as a competitive means for obtaining benefits. Last but not least, 42% of the respondents support the idea to include the game of mahjong in the upcoming Olympics.

Personally, I've found that gambling with my family and friends has been a very positive experience, even if I had to shoot some of them for not paying back poker markers, but that's another story altogether.